Chichén Itzá

I’m one of the kinds who actually have a bucket list. You know, this famous list of things you want to do during the year or before your death. So cliché, I know. I actually couldn’t resist writing or thinking about all the things I want to see or do. Anyways, if you haven’t guessed yet, Chichén Itzá is part of it.

I’ve been living in Mexico for about three months now and I couldn’t wait longer without seeing this beautiful Antic Maya’s city. Chichén Itzá is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is almost… 1900 years old (approximately, excuse me for the lack of knowledge) and it’s beyond beautiful.

So, I visited few times the Mayan Ruins in Tulum, front of the Caribbean Sea. Unlike to Tulum, the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá is way bigger and hidden in the middle of nowhere, at three hours drive from Playa del Carmen.

CENOTE IK KIL

After crossing through the entire site, taking thousands of pictures of every centimetres of it, we decided to leave and visit a new place just 5 minutes away from Chichén Itzá, the cenote Ik Kil. I saw it a thousand times on Pinterest, Google and every website about travels so I couldn’t pass without seeing it.

What was my first (and not in a good way) surprise when we saw the cenote was… in a hotel. Well, if you don’t know, a cenote a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath*. Then, they are located in the middle of a forest or in a preserved site. This one was in a hotel. Full of tourists.

We went for doing snorkel, watching the fishes, swimming… as usual like on the another Cenotes we've visited, but definitely not in this one. You had to pay the entrance, which was beyond expensive in comparison of other ones AND you couldn’t swim with fishes (what fishes? They run with this crowd). No, no. You were just allowed to do the line (behind 167 persons, please) and jump. No snorkel. No swimming. Screaming of teenagers all over the place.

Well, I don’t know if we went a bad day where they were a lot more people but I don’t recommend it. It’s really beautiful, I have to admit it, the hole is giant and this place is really impressive but they are so many others Cenote locations near Playa del Carmen, so more peaceful and cheaper.

Sorry if I talked way too much for this post, I couldn’t stop writing and I wanted to give my impression over all this experience. Hope you guys like the post and will have the chance to see the marvellous site of Chichén Itzá once!